Confrontation
by yesyoukillmypatience
Summary: How Undead Again could've gone. Beckett works up the courage for a confrontation. One-shot. Spoilers up to 4x22
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so this is my first ever attempt to write fanfiction except for this one really lame attempt when I was like 10, but that wasn't for Castle anyway, so yeah. I don't really like this, but the idea's been in my head for ages and it wouldn't leave me alone, so I had to write it down. Unbeta-ed, and I'm a bit worried it goes out of character towards the end, so constructive criticism would be awesome!**

**Takes place in Undead Again. What I wanted to happen before actually watching the episode (I liked the real version a lot more).**

**Obviously, I own nothing. But if I did... That would be awesome.**

_Confrontation_

Beckett hears footsteps running to catch up with Esposito and herself. She turns around as Castle reaches them.

"Hey guys!" He grins, and Kate feels her heart skip a beat, relieved that despite whatever is going on with Castle, he still came to the crime scene.

"Hey," Esposito responds, preventing Kate's greeting from escaping her lips.

"Thanks for calling," Castle tells them, and Kate pauses as it occurs to her that he didn't pick up his phone the first time she'd called. Had he been with the bimbo? Following after other cops again? But it's okay, she reassures herself, because he's here now.

A beat passes, and Beckett quickly puts in a "sure" before the silence can drag on for too long. Focus, she reprimands.

Esposito fills Castle in as the three approach where Perlmutter stands examining the body.

"Ah, our intrepid heroes have arrived." Perlmutter pauses before adding, "And Castle." Beckett smothers a smirk.

"Ah, Perlmutter. I will treasure these special moments we've shared," Castle answers good-naturedly. Beckett feels her blood freeze, and for a moment she feels like she can't move. What does he mean by that? But then she tells herself Castle must not have meant it the way it sounded, so she lets the moment pass, although she can't quite hush the voice reminding her that Castle is never one to use words lightly.

Still, she focuses her attention back to the victim. She'll ask Castle about it when she gets the chance, she promises herself.

And when later comes, Beckett has almost forgotten about the promise she had made herself. She watches their suspect leave the interrogation room and can feel herself fuming. She hates guys like him, who don't even care that they've ended someone's life.

She glances over at Castle and is surprised that instead of looking pissed or determined, he's looking straight at her. This isn't too unusual for him, but for the first time he doesn't avert his gaze or pretend to have a reason be staring; he just keeps watching at her with that reproachful look. She remembers his weird remark to Perlmutter and the anger in his eyes at the hospital when they were talking about life changing events. She suspects now, that he knows the truth.

She bites her lip, torn between talking it over and sweeping it under the rug like they do everything else. She wants to finally talk about something real between them, even if it means risking what they have. She thinks about Lanie's questioning words, not for the first time in the past couple of weeks.

"_What exactly do you have, really?"_

And then she's ready.

"Castle, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he responds instantly, his tone not inviting further conversation. He gets up to leave.

Beckett isn't about to let him walk away now. She grabs his wrist forcefully, although she looks down at the table to avoid eye contact.

"That's a lie, and we both know it. You've been acting so..." She trails off.

"So what?" he asks coldly, and she can feel his glare boring into the top of her head.

"So _weird!" _The words explode out of her before she can stop them. "Bringing that flight attendant to the crime scene, following other cops around. That thing you said to Perlmutter about treasuring the moments between you. What was that about?" Her anger gives the courage to look up into his eyes, and she's startled by the fierce resentment she sees in his eyes.

"I don't know why you have a problem with me bringing dates to crime scenes, what with all the times Dr Motorcycle Boy came around here, and you letting Demming run rampant on our cases. And excuse me for doing _my job. _You know, researching for books." Pain flashes through her when he mentions Josh and Demming.

"Well if my personal life bothers you and the cases I go on are suddenly too boring for you, you're free to leave me alone. Nothing's keeping you here," she spits out, matching the fury in his tone perfectly.

"I'm aware of that. In fact, this was going to be my last case," he practically yells at her. And suddenly she feels empty. He was going to leave? She had always counted on Castle to be her solid ground, the person she could depend on no matter what. And just because he suspected she was lying?

The anger zapped out of her, she whispers a "why?"

His volume has dropped when he tells her "Because you lied to me. You remember the shooting perfectly well." And even though his voice is only a little more than a whisper, what scares Kate is the complete lack of warmth in it.

"I don't -" she starts to defend herself.

"Don't deny it. I heard you tell the suspect during the bombing case." That's when she remembers. How could she have been so stupid? But she hadn't known he was listening. "So if you'll let just let me go," and with surprising force, he frees his arm from her grip.

He's almost reached the door when she whispers, "Don't go."

He turns around to face her again. "Why the hell shouldn't I? And why do you care? I'm sure it'll be nice to not have someone bothering you after four years of being followed."

"Do you not know me at all?" she asks, her tone turning violent again. "Did you not listen all the times I told you how much you meant to me?"

"Clearly I don't mean enough, since you've been lying to me for close to a year." His voice stays even.

That's when she lunges.

She's out of her chair in an instant and in the moment later, her arms are wrapped around his neck and she's kissing him and he's kissing her back and all she can feel is his warmth and the way his arms wrap around her and she feels like she's home.

She pulls her lips away from his and meets his eyes, confident, unguarded. "Don't you ever think you don't mean the world to me, because that's a lie."

There's so much more to be said, but both of them let it slide as their lips come together again and the world fades away until there's nothing but them.

**Even if you hated it, please review so I know what I did wrong. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Update

Thanks so much for the reviews and favourite and alerts on this story! I'm really surprised that people actually liked something I wrote. To everyone that put this on story alert, I'm really sorry, but this was only a one shot, but I've just put up the first chapter of my new story, _Coulda Shoulda Woulda, _which kind of has a similar premise to this, so if you liked this story, make sure you go check it out!


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